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UNITED NATIONS
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
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D1etr.
GENERAL
A/AC.35/SP..&2 ",',' ( ,
"'18 September 1953 , '"
ENGL:J.Gl ":',
ORIGIIll' T,: ' FR'::::'1'CH "
COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION FROM NON~SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES
Fourth Session,
SUMMA.R.Y R"E.CORD OF THE EIG.H.TY-SEC01'lD MEETING ~
,
Held at HeadqU8rters, New Yorlr,
on Monday, 31 August ,1953, at, 2';30 p.m.
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CON'IENTS
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Cessation of the transmission of information: communication from
the United'Statesof America conce~n~ng',P1l~rto Rico (A/AC.35/L.12l)
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(continued)., ' , . '.', .",~
" ,Ed,u~~tiO~l ,c~dltions in Non-~Self-GovernirtgTerritories: reports
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submitted b~V: the Secretary-General and the specialized agencies
(continued): ':<'. ,,'" '
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(f) Use of indigenous languages in education (A/AC.J5!L,137)
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53-25566
J
Reyresentatives o~ specialized agencies:
Mr. GAVIN
A/Ae •35/SR .82
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Page 2
PRESENT:
Chai:rnnn.
Rapporteur:
Members:
Secretariat:
Mr. ~OOMES
Mrs. MENON
Mr. PETBERBRIDGE
Mr. FRAZAO
Mr. LIU
Mr. MANAS
Mr. DONS-MOELLER)
Mr. SVEISTRUP )
Mr. TRUJILLO
Mr. PIGNON .)
Mr. de la BASTIDE )
Miss RUSAD
Mr. KHALIDY)
Mr. KADRY )
Mr. SPI~ ,
Mr. SCOT!'
Mr. PIRACHA
Mr. MATHIESON)
Mr. WARD )
Mr. SEARS )
Mr. FERNOS-ISERN)
Miss BANOS
Mr. DESTOMBE
Mr. ROO
Mr. 'BENSON
Australia
India
Australia
Brazil
China
Cuba
Denmrk
Ecuador
France
Indonesia
Netherlands
New Zealand
Pakistan
United Kingdom o~ Great
Britain and Northern
Ireland
United States' of America
International Labour
Or~nlsation ·(ILO)
Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO,>
United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural
Organization (IDTESCO)
Assistant SecretarY-General
Secretary· o~ tbe Connnittee
AIAC .35/SR.82
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CESSATION OF THE TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION: COMMUNICATION FROM THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE UNI~ STATES OF AMERICA CONCERNING PUERTO RICO
(A/AC.35!L.12l) (continued)
Mr. FRAZAO (BraZil) raised the preliminary question of the Committee's
competence i in his opinion, the Committee was competent under paragraph 2 of the
operative part of resoiution 448 (v) ~ whi~h expressly requested the Committee to
consider informtion transmitted under resolution 222 (III) and to report on it to
the General Assembly. Such consideration must needs lead to conclusions relating
to the application or non~application of Article 73 (e) to Puerto Rico, taking into
account the oonstitutional changes in that territory, as well as the principles
laid down in Chapter XI of the Charter and any ot~er factors contained in the
United states communication. The need for the Committee to take a decision on
the question was further stressed by the fact that the General Assembly by its
eighth session would also have to consider the question, since the Committee had
been set up by the General Assembly for the specific purpose of considering
all information submitted to it on the Non-Self-Governing Territories and, in the
case of Puerto Rico, was responsible for reporting its conclusions to the
General Assembly, which would deal with them as ;tt saw fit.
. .
The Committee should therefore take a decision on the wisdom of the cessation
of the transmiss ion of informa.tion on Puerto Rico. It would not be carrying out
its functions if it merely transmitted the United states communication to the
General 'Assembly without expressing an opinion, on the basis of the information
submitted to it, on the degree of development towards self-government achieved
by Puerto Rico, the ultimate aim of the obligation laid dO\ffi in Article 73 (e)
of the Charter.
With regard to the substance of the question, he drew two conclusions from a
perusal of document Alc .35/1 .121. In the' first place, by adopting~ thrs>ugh
democratic channels, a constitution similar to that of the states of the Union,
the Puerto Rican people had achieved 'a degree of internal political self-government.
In the second place, Puerto Rico itself had chosen its international status by
secret universal elections, haVing in that way exercised 'its right of self­determination.
' Without passing judgmeht on the wi~dom of that choice, the
Committee should take note, of the fact that the will of tpe Puerto Rican people
had been manifes ted without cons tra'int and that the cons t1tution ad'opted conferred
• I \••
on it the supreme political power which enabled it to decide ita internal affairs
A/AG .3~)/";R .82
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for itself, to the exclusion of any other authority. As the result of its . " "',' ." ••..., ." ,. I ", . . '. .' "
accepta.nce by the Puerto Rican peopi~, Public L~'" rf0'~OO'of tlie'U~ited States
Congress had become a contractUaiCagreement of assoc1ation'withthe United states;
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a form of autono~ expressly provided f·or in the list of factors •.' That agreemant,
freely concluded,also constituted the.fWlda.JOOntal law of one of the contracting
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parties and reserved for the. Gov6rrunent of the United States some special powers
in matters of internationalrepresentation,?efence and'economic ,relat~ons, but,
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those restrictions could ~ot cause harm to t~~ classical concept. of internal
sov~reignty, which remaine~ invio1t:J;te,. ,The fact that the word used to desc.ribe
,
the new political entity created by the 'ccmstltution was Ucqmmonwealth", thus
recallinga~sociatiQnround a common symbol, such as the.British Commonwealth,
was unimportant, since the partiqular idea of association waslndicated clearly
by 'the Spanish wording "Estado libre asociado", a ns"T form of association :which
might be added to the five classical forms of composite states.
Those were the facts .on which the Brazilian delegation based its opinton that
Puerto Rico should-no longer be included in. the 'list of Non-Self-Governin~
Territories. The Committee should adopt a resolution in which, aftersi;ating .
the reasons which had led it to that ,decision as the reJ3u,lt of its study under.
resolution 448 (V), it wo~ld recognize that Article 73 (e) no lonser applied,
to Puerto Rico, in view of the degreeofself-governme~treached by the Pue:rto
Rican people, and that the purposes of Ch?-pter XI had thus been attained •.
Mrs. MENON (India) paid tribute to the good faith with which the
Government ,of the Unite.d states hadal'Wf1Ys fulfilled j,ts obligations~ inoluding'
those imposed on it by General Assembly resolution No.. 222. (III) ; it ~d providep
extre~ly full information concerning the constitutlonal changes which tended
to prove that Puerto Rico no longer stood in need of the protec.tive provisions.
of Chapter XI of the Charter. She had listened with great attention to the
-statement made by Mr. Fernos-Ieern, ~eeidentC~mm1ssionerof Puerto .Rico; she
pointed out, however, that the varioue Pue.rto Rican groups which had approe.ched
Iil9xnb~r8 qf the Committee and whioh toOk,issue w'iththe Resident Commissior:erts
views also seemed to be ardent patriots. and to. have a keen sense of interna.t:':'onal
responsibility.
')
. Her delegation· cbunsel;ted ca:ut-ion, ~n ,t~e, mtter, poth in thQ .interests of
the Puerto Rican people ~nd pecause. it cOnsj,.dered that the..Comm;!. tt,ee. 'a decision,
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end the methods whereby it vTould be rea-ohod, should be unimpeachable, sj.: ... 0
they·would constitute a pl'acedel!t.
When'the United Kingdom had given India, Burma and Palcistan their freedom,
those countries had chosen three different paths, but the sitlmtion had
remained simple. In the pree~nt case, tM CoDm'.itteeta task was complicated
by the fac t that, in a a imilar os se, another COllilllittea,. the Ad Hoc Comm:i.twe on
'Factors, had not taken,any decieion but had referred the question to the
General Assembly.
In that conne~ion she reca).1f;d' t}1'i;. t tJJ,e. Gen'31'a1 Assembly had. aSl(ed the
com.ittee on Inf'ormatlon from Non-Self--(}oVel"ning Territories and the Ad. H9E.
Cc1llm:ittee to prepare a list of the factors ·to be taken j.nto account in
deciding whether a territory h d or r.ad not attained a full measure of
self-government. She enwrerated the t~U'ee categories of factors wM,ch the
Ad Hoc Committee had drawn up at its 1953 session (A/~428) and analysed the
existing status of Puerto Rico (A/AC.35!L.12l) in the light of those factors~
The first catego::."Y consisted of factors indicative of the attair...ment of
independence. It was .obvious that Puerto Rico had not attained independence.
The Governor of Puerto ~ico stated in his letter to the President of the
United States that, of tha three pOSSible solutions, independence, statehoo9
within the Federal Union or association with the United States as a free
Commonwealth, the Puerto Rican people had decided unequivocally in favour of
Commonwealth status (A/AC .35/L .121, annex III, paGe 3). The second category,
consisting of factors indicative of, the attailnnsnt of other systems of
self-gover~nt in continuing association with the lOOtr0politan country or in
other forma, was not applicaple to the status of Puerto Rico, since part B
(international status) laid down two criteria, those of general :l,nternat,lonal
relations and eligibility for r~m~ershi~ in the United Nations; the free
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico did not meet th080 two conditions, since its fore:l.gn
policy waB controlled entirely by the United Sta~ee of America.
lastly, she considered the status of Pt~erto Rico in the li&~t of the third
gt'oup of factors, those indicative of tho free associati'on of a territory with thl
metropolitan or other country as an integ:::-ol part of that country. From the
point of viow of factor A.l, the Territoryfs constitutiol"..o.l de-relopment waB
sufficiently adv~nced, since the elections l~d taken place with lmiversal
suffrage and 65 per cent of the reBistered electors had taken part in them.
With regard to f'a'Jtor A.2, tho Constitution had been approved by a referendum
AlAe e35/flR. 82
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,
oroanized'on the basis of universal st~frage and, hence, by democratic processer
Referenda had been held in 1951 and 1952 and it might be said that the
population had expressed its- will with "due knowledge". Factor A.3 did no~
apply because Puerto' Rico was an island. Factor A.4 also did not seem to
apply to the association of a Territory "Tith the United states of America,
which was a melting pot of differont races and cultures. With regard to
factor A.5, relating to constitutional considerations, conditions (i) and (il)
were applicable to the case under discussion, but it was not clear if
condition (iii) applied. The Cornnionwealth of Puerto Rico was not exactly
one of the United States of America, nor had it a separate existence.
Puerto Ricans could amend their Constitution, though subject to some impor.tant
reservations.
So far a~ factor B.l was concerned she pointed out tl~t Puerto Rico was not
represented in the congress of the United States of Amorica~ 'lith reference to
factor B.2 she said that Puerto Ricans were c1tizens of the United states as wel
,
as Puerto Rico. It was not clear how far factor B.3 applied; . perhaps the
United, States representative could siva some explanations of that particular
·point.
Factor' C.l applied to Puerto Rico. The status of Puerto Rico with respect
to factors C.2, 03 and c'.4 was· similar to that of the states of the Union.
She concluded from her analysis that Puerto Rico was neither an independent
territory nor a territory separate from the United States and that its status wa
inferior to that o'f the states of the Union. While not underestimating the
important fact that the Puerto Rican people had chosen its status and Constituti
in absolute freedom, nevertheless, her delegation thought that the question shou
not be prejud86d and that it would be advisable to wait until the General Assemb
had reached a decision on the conc1usionc of the Ad Hoc Ca.mmittee on Factors.
J
The committee should refer the question to the General Assembly, just as the
Ad HO~ Committee had referred the question of tIle Netherlands Antilles and
Surinam, in order that the Assembly might consider both questions from the same
angle.
Mr. PIP.AOIIA (Pakistan) said that his dele~tion had carefully studied
the United Stat':;.:: Governmcnt 1s communications of 19 January and 29 'VJarch 1953,
and also the detailed statement ~~de, on 28 August by ~~. Fernos-Isern, Resident
Commissioner of the Commonwealth of' Puerto Rico. In the light of those documen'
AIAC .35/SR .~
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and of General Assembly resolutions 222 (III) and 6l~8 (V"II) a:r:.d the repol't OJ.' t·rte
Ad Hoc Committee on Factors, the Pakistan delegation felt that the COlmllittoG
should transmit the communication of the United State.s to the General Assembly
without comment, for suitable action.
In 1951, when the Netherlands delegation had informed the Connnittee that its
Government would no longer transmit information on the Netherlands Antilles and
Surinam because they had ceased to be Non-Self-Governing Territories within the
meaning of Article 73 (e) of the Charter, the Committee had adopted a rea-olution
in which it hadmerel;y transmitted the Netherlands communication to the General
Assembly. The present situation 'Was very similar. The United states Governmen'
had informed the C0IllL1ittee the.t Ptlerto Rico was no longer a Non-Self-Governing
Territory andthat it intended to dease tranamitting inforrnatton on Puerto Rico
under Article '73 (e) of the Charter. The Committee shbuld be gt:dded by the
precedent of. the decision concerning the Netherlands Government's communication .
. TheTe was another reason why the communication should be transmitted to the
Generai Assembly without comment. In the case of Suri:b.a.m and the Netherlands
Antilles, the General Assembly had instructed the .Ad Hoc Committe,e on Factors to
examine the question and to report on it to the eighth seasion of the General
Assembly. That committee had recently decided that it could not make
recommendations to the General Assembly and had referred the question back to the
. I
Assembly. At its fo~thcoming session the Assembly would probably study the
question of cessation of the transmission of information by Administering P~Ters
and might also take advantage of the opportunity to define criteria by reference
to which pending questions could be ,judged and future pol1cydetermined. He
therefore thought that the Committee should not express any views on the subject
before the eighth session of the General Assembly.
Mr. TRUJILLO (Ecuador) took issue with the representatives of India and
Pakis,tan. First, as the Ad Hoc Committee on Factors and the General Assembly ha
expressly ,stated, the list of faotors could serve only as a guide and al~owance
should be made for the particular circumstances of each case. S~condly, t.he
pI'esent connnittee"s terms of reference derived from resolutions 222 (III) art-d
448 (V), in which the C~neral Assembly instructed it to-take a decisionj it
could not shirk that task vTithout running tbe risk of losing its raison dtetre ..
His delegation, like the Brazilian delegation, therefore held that the ConnnitteE1"
I
was competent and indeed under a duty to pass judgment on the caSe presented by
the United states.
A/AC.35/SR.82
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The Committee's decision should,of course, be in coufo='!Jlityw-:Lt:. Cl":', '-:,-:}
of the Charter. Tne authors of that chapter h3.cl wished to draw a dist1:lction
betw~en Non-Self-Governing (or colon~al) Terr~toriea and Trust Territories: '
under Chapter XI the Administel':.ug Powers had the sacred trust ot' guiding the
colonial territoriec towar1s ~elf.-covernnlent) as the United Kingdom had done in
the case of India and the Ur.itcd states in.,the case of the Philippines.
Consequently, Adminitte~ing P~f3rs could be baid to have fulfilled the trust whe
they had discharged the obligation3 laid ~o~~ in Article 73 (a), (b), (c), (d)
and (e). . ,
AnaJ~sing the manner in which the United States bad carried out its
oblig~tions toWards Puerto Rico, Le said with resard to paragraph. (a),' that socii
conditiona in the Island spoke for thems~lv(,'J; with regard 'to paragraph (b),
that the documents aubmittcd and direct acquaintance with the country shmoTed too'
it was able to command :respect as an independent state; with regard to
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paragraph (c), that PUerto Rico had .talccn an active, part in the Second Wo::-ld War
and in the Korean War, many Puerto Ricans having fought with the United Nations
troops; and with rege.l~d to pa.ragraph (d), that the University of Puerto Rico
had admitted a number of students from Latin America, Africa and Asia.
So far as paragraph (e) was concerned, even the Indian delegation had
paid a tribute to the scrupUlously detailed information about the island
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. transmitted by the United States. After severa~ referenda and plebiscites
tpe Puerto Rican'people had decided in favour of self-government; the
, .
islandts ties with the United G:ates were hardly more than economic.
Puerto Rico and the,United States had entered,into a compact which was more
binding than an international treaty because it could not be denounced
uIlilat9rally.
He concluded, from his analJ'sis that P1..~crto Rico had all the attributes of
an independent people. , The C~mittoe should ad0~t a resolution referring to
previous resolutions and -to the basic documentation in the present case,
acc~Jting the cessation of the tran3missioh of information on Puerto Rico
by tneUnited States, and affirming tha.t it.s decision was b<;lUnd t9 favour - ' '
the development of a great Spahi~h-AmericJ~,nation.
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Mr. KHALIDY (Iraq) said ~hat there were two main questions before
the Committee: first, a question of substance, which was whether Puerto Rico
had reached a sufficient measure of self-government to entitle the United states
, -
Government to cease transmitting information about it; e,nd secondly a question
of procedure, which was whether it was desirable to discuss the question of
substance. Obviously, the proeed~ral. que~ti?n MOul~ ~ve to be co~sidered
ahd settled first.
The Iraqi delegation had .st~aied earc~l¥ the documentation submitted
by the United states ~overnment which was.~O be cOmffiend~d for furnishing such
ample and detailed information. Beyond all doubt, the United states had done
everything in its power to promote the economic, political and SQcial advancement
of Puerto Rico and that to a large extent its e.fforts had been successful •
His delegation was therefore prepared to discuss the substance of the
question'and, if the Committee decided to discuss substance, he would
state his Government's position in the matter, in accordance with precise
instructions received by him. Nevertheless, he was inclined to think that
the Committee, being essentially directed to study information concerning
territories the peoples of which w~re not yet self-governing, would be wise to
avoid making a recommendation on the question of substance and instead to refer
it to the Genera); Assembly; in that way, as the Pakistan representative had
luggested, it would be following the course followed in the earlier case of
Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles, a course which bad produced satisfact~ry
results. That was a sufficient reason for employing the same method again.
Besides, the Fqurth Committee, a much more r~presentative organ than the. present
C~ttee and ther"efore.better qualified 'to settle the question, might well . -' .
re~oD8ider the Committee's recommendation and arrive at a diametrically opposite
conclusion.
Mr. FRAZAO (BraZil) agreed that the Committee should first decide
ther it should make a recommendation or leave it to the General Assembly to
Actually, the question was already on the General Assembly's agenda
o could hardly be referred to it by the Committee. That being so the issue
whether the Committee would comply with resolution 448 (V), paragraph 2, or
. .
t obligations by not expressing its point of view. Having studied for
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several years 'the information furnished by the United States Government with
regard ta Puerto Rico, the Committee could hardly declare itself incompetent
when asked to determine whether Puerto Rico had advanced to the stage of self­government.
Manifestly, as in the case of Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles,'
the Fourth Committee'would not be able to settle thequestiob. alone and 8.
sub-committee would then'~e appointed to do the work originally entrusted
to the present Committee.
In his delegationts view, the list of factors prepared by the ~ !2£
Committee on Factors was 'oDly a gUide, and not a rigid set of rules applicable
, .
in all cases. His delegation had fully explained its position on tne matter
both in the Fourth Committee and in the General Assembly.
In conclusion, he'said that the question of competence had to be decided
first. '
The CHAIRMAN observed that no one had really questioned the cOmpetence
of the Committee. ,The problem 'was whetl:ler the C~ttee should draft', a
recommendation on the question of substance - the Brazilian representative
- ' .
himself had suggested the broad-lines of a text which might perhaps be'adopted -
or whether it should refer the matter to the General Assembly Without, however,
intimating that it considered'itself incompetent.
The meeting was suspended at 3.55 p.m. and resumed at 4.23 p.m.
Mr. LIU (China) recalied that the problem before the Committee was
not an isolated case. 'It must be studied iIi relation to past and possible future
, ,
cases. Moreover, the Canmittee was not the only United Nations body concerned
with questions relating to Non-Belf-Governing Territories and it should be guided,
with regard to both procedure and subs:t&nce, by the work already carried out in
that. field, particularly by the Fourth Canmittee.
After a brief .description of the position of Puerto Rico as revealed by
1nforme.tiop provided by the United states Government, he observed that the
Territory, whose religious, cultural and linguistic traditions were different from
those of the United States, bad, as a result of a series of acts of Congress passed
since 1917, achieved almost cO"Q!Plete selt-government. Tbe United Sta~8 GQyernment
bad faithfully fulfilled ita obligati~nsl as was s~own by document A/AC.35/L.12l
which described the progress made in the ~rritory. The Chinese delegation had
welcomed the Resident Commissioner's statement th~t the Puerto Rican people knew
that they were free to cbange the status of the Commonwealth if the electorate
should so desire. That statement reicht be regarded as a solemn undertaking by the
United States Government to grant full inpependence to Puerto Rico whenever the
people of the Territory should request·it.
Speaking, of the referendum,. on the Constitution, he said that according to
document A/AC.35/L.12l, a little over BO·per cent of the electorate had voted in
favour of its adOption. However; as the Independe~ce Party.bad suggested in ita
communication, it would be useful to compare the total number of voters on the
lIs With the number of those who bad actually taken part, in the referendum; the
omparison revealed that Bome 327,000 voters bad abstained. Since the unused
A/AC.";/SR.82
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Page 11
Af"ter reca.ll.ing the terms (If the General Assembly resolutions which the
Committee ought to keep constantly in mind. 66 (I), 222 enI), 448 (V) and
568 (VI) - he turned- to the l;tst Clf fac"tors set out 1n the report of the Ad Hoc
Committee on Factors (A/2428). Agreement -bad been reached on three essential
points: first, the list ()f factors was to be taken as a guide and vas not to be
r
considered final or exclusivej -it was clear that the relations between
Administering Powers and Non-Self-Governing Territories were undergoing rapid
change~ and that it might later by nedessary'to take into consideration new factors
not mentioned ~n the present iist. Secondly, in deciding whether the status of a
Non-Selt-Governing Territory should be pltered, the determining element should be
the freely expressed will of·the :People.- Ls:t"iy, no attempt had so far been made
to determ~ne who was to decide Whether' or not a Territ~ had become fully self­governing.
A/AC.35/SR.82
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Page 12
votes were those of members of the Independence Party, they should, according
to the latter, be regarded as negative votes; it ~ould then follow that, in
reality about 400,000 'voters' ~~re OPPOB~d to the. Constitution, While the total
number of votes in favour was only about 370,000. The Independence Party's " .
observations perturbed the Chinese de~egation which, while prepared to agree with
the 'Unite'd states Government that the Territory had acbieyed seU-government, .. W8s
. I' ••
anXious that the decision's taken~'6hould reflect the real wi,she,s of the ,people.•. , . .. .
He would like to know the United States representative's vie~~ on the subject.
With regard to the procedural question~ he shored the Bra~ilian
. 1 , .. ' • ' '
representativets view; the fact that the Committee had ~ade no recommendation'
when 'similar, case,s had occurred in .the past did. not in any way justify it in
again making none. '. I~ so far ~s t~re was no ~erious political reason for
refraining from action, nor any great diffe~encesof opinion in the Committee, it
should comply With tpe provisions of resolution 448 (v) and submit its views to
\ the General Assemb ly.
r
Mr. FERNOS-ISERN (United ,states of America), replying to the
representativ~ of China, said that' 'all Puerto Ricans who had attained their
majority had the ri'glit to vote ; it was always to 'be expected that 8. ce.rta1n . .")
percentage of the v'oters on the rolls would not actually vote ,and that, ,tpe ,
percentage would be' higher where it was not an electio~ to public office. In the
'. I.
case of the referendum on the Constitution, he saw no reason for regarding the
abstentions as negative votes; he felt rather that 'the ~bstainer.s,had bee~
" }, . "> , tacitly' in agreement with the views of the majority of the voters. Moreoever,
it was scarcely'credible that all those who had not voted were members of, the
Independence Party which,was a small group and had decided of its own accord not
" ,
to take part in the vote. Public ,~w No. 600 had been approved by 76 per c,ent
of .the vo~ers, who represented 65 per cent of the total electorate; in other
wor~s, 49.76 per cent of the total electorate had declared their'approv~l of the
Law. It was only necessary therefore tp regard a tiny percentage of the
abstentions as virtually positive votes to reach t~e conclusion t~t the Law in
queeti9n bad been approved by more than half the total electorate.
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Page 13
Mrll MATHIESON (United Kingdom) tllought that the tvo' different, points of
view which had emerged might be reconciled. It should be possible to reach
agreement, On one or several draft. r.e.so.lut.1QJ1s ~¢~p.t.a9l~ ,~Q.' ~e_.maJ.9l:.i t:Y:. of the
Committee.
Mr. SC~ (He'., Zeeland) also hoped for a compromise. 'He pointed to the
parallel betveen the 'position of PuertQ Rieo6nd that of the Netherlands Antilles
and Surinam ~hich had some time earlier echi~ved a 1egree of self-government
sufficient to warrant the ~~thcrlan~s Gov~rnmant's ceasing to t~ansmft information
under J1.rticle 73 (e) of the Cr'l'ter.' The 'Ney Zeavmd delegation ~d ,no. doubt
that the decision of the United States Go'Yernment was vell founded.' He tQ.~refore
submitted and ~ead out a draft resolution '1h1cb, after ~ec$ll1ng the. provisions of
aener~l Assembly resolution 222 (III) and ,stressing the need for the United Nat'ions
, to be infOrmed of ell constitutional changes tD8king it unnecesfary for governments
to"transmit 1nfor~tion under Article 73 (e) of t~e Charter, took note, of the
documents and communicat1ons submitted by the United States Go;:ternment to show
that the Territory'of Puerto Rico had ec~ieved self-governmcnto ' . . _' __
He -ho~ed, that the Committee would adept that draft resolutiono He ~alled
the part. already played by Puerto Rico in the, defence of peace' 6Q4,..,internertional
security. By participating in the collective security action in Kor~e., the new
" ,::Stat-e,_~1n fact earned .the gratitude or· ~-.internati,;)~~~~ conmunity.
Vir. FRAZAO (BraZil) thought 1t undesirable :to vote at once on 'the draft
resolution read out by tt.e New Ze6l~nd representative.. When the Committee had
seen it in writing" a comr:-omise draft of the oper~tive part of the resolution
might b.e arriv.ed at~ Be proposed ;that e:x'Cm1cation of, t~ draft resolution should
be poB~,unti.l_the~.next .meeti:l3o
The CHP.IRMAN invited the New zealand representative to submit to the
Secretariat a ~ritten text. of ~i6 draft resolution'so that the Committee. might
examine i't a"c its 8;rd meet1~.
,
\
-. '..'.:
AIAC ..35/SR$82
Engli1:lh
Page 14
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONSnr NON-SELF*GOVERNING TERRITORIES: REPORTS SUBMITTED B!
. THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND 'fEE SPECIALIZj!:D AGJ!;NCIES (contintedh (r) USE OF ~....-c"""__
,INDIGENOUS -IJ.I..N"~GES IN. .EDUCA'E1C~. (A/.AC..35)J....1.37)
If.r (> Y•.l'.I1RY (Iraq) pointed out that 111 the independent Arabic. speaking
countri~s effor~s mad~ to give instruction in 'Arabic had met with complete
success. The fact that primary dnd seeon~ry inoU'uction was given entirely in
Arab:l.c did not exclude the' study and pr·actice of other languages, E!uch as English
or French, a knowledge o.f ~icb vas. necesGary for 6tudents wishing to go to the
sources of Western thought. Furtnermore: the~ existed Arabic translations of
important 'Westerrt' works, and in certain casee'h1g;wr epl.lcl!!ti'On-w.a~,given--in_._
Arabic" for instance at the medical 'school in Damascus. Thus experience bad
prO"'led that the Arabic langu&£e cou14 be used as a ~hicle even for higher and
'..
scientific education, and he was amaz,a tha~ the French Government bed not givep,
Arabic the place to ":;'hich it ~1a~ ent1~1..ed in instruction in Morocco and Tunisia.
He did' not regard as valid the argtunertt that France had had. to bear the 'burd~n of
-v.1O ,wrld wara 1n the forti- y-aars that'Marooco-bQ.<i eXisted 3S a. protectorate.
In t~e past, th~ French representative -in the Committee had stressed the necessity
for g~ling instru~tion in Frencb 8S being the only lan~~e allowing the creation
of an ~'in those territo:'ies~ He di,\. not share that point of view; he
failed to see how an ~ educated in a f6+eign langurlgc cot:.ld maintain conta~t
With an Arab population Which ~an proud of its political a~d cultural heritage.
He pointed out that Arabic lit'~r7,ture sllm'Ted all the populations of Islamic
culture to communicate With each other, and emphasized that cultural exchanges
between Egypt on the one ~and and Tunisia and Morocco on the other could-have
tsken pIece if the French Govern~ent hed ecceptet the Egyptian Gove~nmentts o~fer
regarding the creation of an institute of Arabic civilization in North Afr1c~.
, The offer had been rejected ·for political reasons, and.he regretted the fact.
lJ..r. PIG-NON (~rance) pointed out the.t tbe vernacular languages used in
Morocco were Berber and Maghrabi, and. that.Arabic coul<! llO'C be regarded as a
vernacula.!" language ih the terme of the UNESCO definition. The French Government
had supplied infor~ation on the use of classical Arabic in Tunisia and on the' . . . . .' ')',:':""
experfment'ssystematically carried ou'i; in'tha,t countT:r. ' T~e reject1'on 'of the
.. ' "..~ ...;
Egyptian Government' B offer !lad no';; been 'pro:npted b)· any polttical, reason; Fra.IlC'e'
was not opposed to cultural exchanges, as it ha.d ~~equentl~' proved~' On the othe~
hand, he could quo~e inet&nces in which French culture had b~en the object o~. .
attack in certain countr~es vhich had deprived French scholars of appointments to
which -their knowledge and 8enio~ity'·ha.d -entitled theni.
lIe' requested. the Comittee to hear Mrll de la Ba:Jtid.e~ a Fren.:h gove:rnment
expert, who would describe the msaSUl"e8 taken in Moroc~o and 'I-un1sia to encourage
the spread'of tea.ching in Al"ab1c~
'Mr0 . de la BASTIDE (France) wanted ttt-at of all to correct certain date.
cited by the ~raqi rcp~esentati~e w1thregard to school atteudSncein Mor~cco eLd
Tunisia. The Comm~ttee should beware of informattch vhich did not correspond to
actualfacts. Assuming that tne number of those who euquld attend school
~epresented 15 per cent of the total population, the fig~~~s for school attendance
of Moroccan ,~d Tunisian chiliren were as follows: in Morocco the school
i'egis'cration figure was 42 per cent;' 20 per cent of MOli'a~o'a.rl et:i!1dreri ~ere
" ."I, ,1 • • . ~.. , ,.
registered in modern Bchb~S. !n Tunisia the re~~~t~ation figure was 4~ per cent
and 36 per cent 'of Tunisian cbili'l:"en attended. lXl;od:.ern schoolE;. Fm'tb.ermore it, was
not cOlorectto c;t.aim,· as the ITsqi :t'e'P"!'esentative had do~e'" that the Moroccans'
contributed more than 95 per cent' of the pub11c'educat1on bUdget~ The truth ~as
that the, Europeans in Morocco contributed 'one-half of the budge~o
He then described ,the measures takerf 'oy °Ghe French Government to strike a
Bu~table balance between Islamic and EQ~orean culture both in Mo~occo and in
I Tunisia. France was well aware of ·the bonds which linked 't!iosetrl0 territories
to Islam~c civilization. ·N~rertheless it vas a recognized fact t.hat a knowledge
of Fl"ench was indispensable if the population of those countries was
A/AC~35/SR.82
English
Page 16
to benefit free Western teaching, eaPE~1ally in the scientific and humanist
field" Side b~, Eide, therefore, w1.:~ the traditional ~ducation gh"en entirely
in Arabic; v;hich had j;ler'sisted, it had been neeese-ary to set up two typCfJ of
i;:l8truction: the F::;·er.ch -type of educe.tion~ open to all, &~d Franco-1010hamneWm
e~uc~~ion, which offe~ed a whole range of choices that allowed pupils to adopt
one c~lture or the oth~~ as they prcgraeeed in their Bt~d1es.
~~e~e primary education was concerned, there were trad1tional·Y.oranic
Bchool~ attended by 250,000 pupils in Morocco and 4o>coo in TUnisia. In the
la'cter territory, the teach5_ng of the Koran wa~ being gradua.lly supplemented by
instruction in arithmetic, morala J draWing and sing~ng, ~iven in Arabic~ ~~;re
were also mode~n Kdranic schools ~aving 32,000 pupils in T~isiaj t~ey offered
8. six-year course iu which Arabic occupied an important place.
In Morocco, it was noyewo~~' that despite the fact ths~ the vernacular
language ot a large. number of th~ population was Berbel", no p:'ovieion vas made
for '~ha;v language in the M?slem :primary schoole .in. Berber-ape~Jt1ng a~<ea.s, while
one third of their time.-table \7aS allotted to the tee,ching of Arabic BJ1.d the Koran,
for lThich a· la.rge number of Moroccan teacheZ"s were train_d each :rea:::', ThlJ,t
teaching was e~per\~sei by regional inspectors, all ot v.h~~ were Moroccan.
He went on to d~scri~e the reforms instituted in ~iaia in 1949, through
which Arab:i.c had become the: n'..edium of instl""olction. for several eubJects euen as
arithmetic, object lessons, history and ge08Tephy, The teaching of dialectal
Arabic, like the teaching of classiaal Arabic, had been made compulsory in French
schools in Tunisia. Teachers in French schools had to take as many Arabic as
French courses.
He also poirlted 0,. f-. ·(,t.a.t there was privat.e teaching given in Arabic, and tDat
the ancient indigenous universities ccntin~ed to give courGes ot primary studies
in Arabic.
Wnere secondary education was conc~rned, it should be noted that to tac111te:ea
good relations.between the European and Moslem 1nhabita~ts dialectal Arabic ha~
since 1952 been a compulGory Elubject in French seconda.ry schools in Morocco.
Conversely, secondary ecucation in Franco~051em schools gave
'English
Page 17
an important place to classical Arabic (8 hQurs out of 30 per week in Morocco and
11-1/2 hou~8 out of 30 per week in Tunisia). In view of that fact, it had been
neceosa~y to ins·~itute special examinations. There was a special certificate of
completion of studies, which was regarded as an equivalent of the French
baccalaureat degree for the pUl·pose of access to administrative poats in Morocco.
Furthermore a Moroccan (or Tunisian) bacc~~ure~~ had been introduced in 1948,
which included a v~itten Arabic translation,a French composition and a test in
mathematics. Instruction in Arabic literature and the history of Islam was given·
in the Arabic language by specially qualified teache~s, The choice of that
baccalaureat,enabled young Tunisians and Moroecans to acquire a Bound Arabic
culture, corresponding to the Greco-Latin culture of their French colleagues,
before the~ embar~ed upon any c~~se or m~eTn higher studies.
Where higher education wae concerned, he recalled that there existed at Tunis
and at Rabat higher studies institutes where students could prepare for lower or
higher certificates and diplomas tn classical Arabic. By obtaining tr-ose diplomas,
6tudent~ who did pot possess a baccalaw,~at were enabled to teach Arabic in
secondary schools. In that connexion, he pointed out that in Morocco 42 out of
- " the 69 teachers of Arabic in secondary ac~ools were Moroccan.
In Tunisia the tea~hing of Arabic was even more advanced than in Morocco.
In particular there was a diploma for law studies for which the teaching was
given entirely in Arabic •
.• 0
Lastly, in France iteelf the School of Oriental Languages, the Institute for
Higher Islamic Studies and the Sorbonne gave courses and lectures in Arabic which
even nationals of Arabic countries considered ~'iorth ta.king.
In conclusion, he pointed out that, first, France was endeavouring to maintain
traditional ~ducation in Morocco and Tunisi,a,; secondly, it had made an effort to
prOVide Tunisians and Moroccans with a mod~rn educa~ion in which Arab culture
played a large part; and, thirdly, it was Giving an increasingly important place
in primary and secondary schools of the French type to the, study of dialectal and
classi~al Arabic. He hoped that ~is account had allayed the Iraqi representative's
apprehensions.
The meeting rose at 6 p.m.
,18/9 a.m.

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UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY ,-I' ." '.. \. '\, " ... ,_ .. " , . "": ~'.: : .;-....-".: ..;: D1etr. GENERAL A/AC.35/SP..&2 ",',' ( , "'18 September 1953 , '" ENGL:J.Gl ":', ORIGIIll' T,: ' FR'::::'1'CH " COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION FROM NON~SELF-GOVERNING TERRITORIES Fourth Session, SUMMA.R.Y R"E.CORD OF THE EIG.H.TY-SEC01'lD MEETING ~ , Held at HeadqU8rters, New Yorlr, on Monday, 31 August ,1953, at, 2';30 p.m. =- CON'IENTS . :,' ',' .- . , . ~ Cessation of the transmission of information: communication from the United'Statesof America conce~n~ng',P1l~rto Rico (A/AC.35/L.12l) .;' " .- .. (continued)., ' , . '.', .",~ " ,Ed,u~~tiO~l ,c~dltions in Non-~Self-GovernirtgTerritories: reports , .. submitted b~V: the Secretary-General and the specialized agencies (continued): ': United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (IDTESCO) Assistant SecretarY-General Secretary· o~ tbe Connnittee AIAC .35/SR.82 English Page 3 CESSATION OF THE TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION: COMMUNICATION FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNI~ STATES OF AMERICA CONCERNING PUERTO RICO (A/AC.35!L.12l) (continued) Mr. FRAZAO (BraZil) raised the preliminary question of the Committee's competence i in his opinion, the Committee was competent under paragraph 2 of the operative part of resoiution 448 (v) ~ whi~h expressly requested the Committee to consider informtion transmitted under resolution 222 (III) and to report on it to the General Assembly. Such consideration must needs lead to conclusions relating to the application or non~application of Article 73 (e) to Puerto Rico, taking into account the oonstitutional changes in that territory, as well as the principles laid down in Chapter XI of the Charter and any ot~er factors contained in the United states communication. The need for the Committee to take a decision on the question was further stressed by the fact that the General Assembly by its eighth session would also have to consider the question, since the Committee had been set up by the General Assembly for the specific purpose of considering all information submitted to it on the Non-Self-Governing Territories and, in the case of Puerto Rico, was responsible for reporting its conclusions to the General Assembly, which would deal with them as ;tt saw fit. . . The Committee should therefore take a decision on the wisdom of the cessation of the transmiss ion of informa.tion on Puerto Rico. It would not be carrying out its functions if it merely transmitted the United states communication to the General 'Assembly without expressing an opinion, on the basis of the information submitted to it, on the degree of development towards self-government achieved by Puerto Rico, the ultimate aim of the obligation laid dO\ffi in Article 73 (e) of the Charter. With regard to the substance of the question, he drew two conclusions from a perusal of document Alc .35/1 .121. In the' first place, by adopting~ thrs>ugh democratic channels, a constitution similar to that of the states of the Union, the Puerto Rican people had achieved 'a degree of internal political self-government. In the second place, Puerto Rico itself had chosen its international status by secret universal elections, haVing in that way exercised 'its right of self­determination. ' Without passing judgmeht on the wi~dom of that choice, the Committee should take note, of the fact that the will of tpe Puerto Rican people had been manifes ted without cons tra'int and that the cons t1tution ad'opted conferred • I \•• on it the supreme political power which enabled it to decide ita internal affairs A/AG .3~)/";R .82 English . Page 4 for itself, to the exclusion of any other authority. As the result of its . " "',' ." ••..., ." ,. I ", . . '. .' " accepta.nce by the Puerto Rican peopi~, Public L~'" rf0'~OO'of tlie'U~ited States Congress had become a contractUaiCagreement of assoc1ation'withthe United states; . . .. . . a form of autono~ expressly provided f·or in the list of factors •.' That agreemant, freely concluded,also constituted the.fWlda.JOOntal law of one of the contracting \ J .. .,'': ., " parties and reserved for the. Gov6rrunent of the United States some special powers in matters of internationalrepresentation,?efence and'economic ,relat~ons, but, I ' those restrictions could ~ot cause harm to t~~ classical concept. of internal sov~reignty, which remaine~ invio1t:J;te,. ,The fact that the word used to desc.ribe , the new political entity created by the 'ccmstltution was Ucqmmonwealth", thus recallinga~sociatiQnround a common symbol, such as the.British Commonwealth, was unimportant, since the partiqular idea of association waslndicated clearly by 'the Spanish wording "Estado libre asociado", a ns"T form of association :which might be added to the five classical forms of composite states. Those were the facts .on which the Brazilian delegation based its opinton that Puerto Rico should-no longer be included in. the 'list of Non-Self-Governin~ Territories. The Committee should adopt a resolution in which, aftersi;ating . the reasons which had led it to that ,decision as the reJ3u,lt of its study under. resolution 448 (V), it wo~ld recognize that Article 73 (e) no lonser applied, to Puerto Rico, in view of the degreeofself-governme~treached by the Pue:rto Rican people, and that the purposes of Ch?-pter XI had thus been attained •. Mrs. MENON (India) paid tribute to the good faith with which the Government ,of the Unite.d states hadal'Wf1Ys fulfilled j,ts obligations~ inoluding' those imposed on it by General Assembly resolution No.. 222. (III) ; it ~d providep extre~ly full information concerning the constitutlonal changes which tended to prove that Puerto Rico no longer stood in need of the protec.tive provisions. of Chapter XI of the Charter. She had listened with great attention to the -statement made by Mr. Fernos-Ieern, ~eeidentC~mm1ssionerof Puerto .Rico; she pointed out, however, that the varioue Pue.rto Rican groups which had approe.ched Iil9xnb~r8 qf the Committee and whioh toOk,issue w'iththe Resident Commissior:erts views also seemed to be ardent patriots. and to. have a keen sense of interna.t:':'onal responsibility. ') . Her delegation· cbunsel;ted ca:ut-ion, ~n ,t~e, mtter, poth in thQ .interests of the Puerto Rican people ~nd pecause. it cOnsj,.dered that the..Comm;!. tt,ee. 'a decision, '. , • .' • .' ". ~.' I . '.' AIAC •35/SR .~ English Page 5 end the methods whereby it vTould be rea-ohod, should be unimpeachable, sj.: ... 0 they·would constitute a pl'acedel!t. When'the United Kingdom had given India, Burma and Palcistan their freedom, those countries had chosen three different paths, but the sitlmtion had remained simple. In the pree~nt case, tM CoDm'.itteeta task was complicated by the fac t that, in a a imilar os se, another COllilllittea,. the Ad Hoc Comm:i.twe on 'Factors, had not taken,any decieion but had referred the question to the General Assembly. In that conne~ion she reca).1f;d' t}1'i;. t tJJ,e. Gen'31'a1 Assembly had. aSl(ed the com.ittee on Inf'ormatlon from Non-Self--(}oVel"ning Territories and the Ad. H9E. Cc1llm:ittee to prepare a list of the factors ·to be taken j.nto account in deciding whether a territory h d or r.ad not attained a full measure of self-government. She enwrerated the t~U'ee categories of factors wM,ch the Ad Hoc Committee had drawn up at its 1953 session (A/~428) and analysed the existing status of Puerto Rico (A/AC.35!L.12l) in the light of those factors~ The first catego::."Y consisted of factors indicative of the attair...ment of independence. It was .obvious that Puerto Rico had not attained independence. The Governor of Puerto ~ico stated in his letter to the President of the United States that, of tha three pOSSible solutions, independence, statehoo9 within the Federal Union or association with the United States as a free Commonwealth, the Puerto Rican people had decided unequivocally in favour of Commonwealth status (A/AC .35/L .121, annex III, paGe 3). The second category, consisting of factors indicative of, the attailnnsnt of other systems of self-gover~nt in continuing association with the lOOtr0politan country or in other forma, was not applicaple to the status of Puerto Rico, since part B (international status) laid down two criteria, those of general :l,nternat,lonal relations and eligibility for r~m~ershi~ in the United Nations; the free Commonwealth of Puerto Rico did not meet th080 two conditions, since its fore:l.gn policy waB controlled entirely by the United Sta~ee of America. lastly, she considered the status of Pt~erto Rico in the li&~t of the third gt'oup of factors, those indicative of tho free associati'on of a territory with thl metropolitan or other country as an integ:::-ol part of that country. From the point of viow of factor A.l, the Territoryfs constitutiol"..o.l de-relopment waB sufficiently adv~nced, since the elections l~d taken place with lmiversal suffrage and 65 per cent of the reBistered electors had taken part in them. With regard to f'a'Jtor A.2, tho Constitution had been approved by a referendum AlAe e35/flR. 82 English Page 6 , oroanized'on the basis of universal st~frage and, hence, by democratic processer Referenda had been held in 1951 and 1952 and it might be said that the population had expressed its- will with "due knowledge". Factor A.3 did no~ apply because Puerto' Rico was an island. Factor A.4 also did not seem to apply to the association of a Territory "Tith the United states of America, which was a melting pot of differont races and cultures. With regard to factor A.5, relating to constitutional considerations, conditions (i) and (il) were applicable to the case under discussion, but it was not clear if condition (iii) applied. The Cornnionwealth of Puerto Rico was not exactly one of the United States of America, nor had it a separate existence. Puerto Ricans could amend their Constitution, though subject to some impor.tant reservations. So far a~ factor B.l was concerned she pointed out tl~t Puerto Rico was not represented in the congress of the United States of Amorica~ 'lith reference to factor B.2 she said that Puerto Ricans were c1tizens of the United states as wel , as Puerto Rico. It was not clear how far factor B.3 applied; . perhaps the United, States representative could siva some explanations of that particular ·point. Factor' C.l applied to Puerto Rico. The status of Puerto Rico with respect to factors C.2, 03 and c'.4 was· similar to that of the states of the Union. She concluded from her analysis that Puerto Rico was neither an independent territory nor a territory separate from the United States and that its status wa inferior to that o'f the states of the Union. While not underestimating the important fact that the Puerto Rican people had chosen its status and Constituti in absolute freedom, nevertheless, her delegation thought that the question shou not be prejud86d and that it would be advisable to wait until the General Assemb had reached a decision on the conc1usionc of the Ad Hoc Ca.mmittee on Factors. J The committee should refer the question to the General Assembly, just as the Ad HO~ Committee had referred the question of tIle Netherlands Antilles and Surinam, in order that the Assembly might consider both questions from the same angle. Mr. PIP.AOIIA (Pakistan) said that his dele~tion had carefully studied the United Stat':;.:: Governmcnt 1s communications of 19 January and 29 'VJarch 1953, and also the detailed statement ~~de, on 28 August by ~~. Fernos-Isern, Resident Commissioner of the Commonwealth of' Puerto Rico. In the light of those documen' AIAC .35/SR .~ English Page 7 and of General Assembly resolutions 222 (III) and 6l~8 (V"II) a:r:.d the repol't OJ.' t·rte Ad Hoc Committee on Factors, the Pakistan delegation felt that the COlmllittoG should transmit the communication of the United State.s to the General Assembly without comment, for suitable action. In 1951, when the Netherlands delegation had informed the Connnittee that its Government would no longer transmit information on the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam because they had ceased to be Non-Self-Governing Territories within the meaning of Article 73 (e) of the Charter, the Committee had adopted a rea-olution in which it hadmerel;y transmitted the Netherlands communication to the General Assembly. The present situation 'Was very similar. The United states Governmen' had informed the C0IllL1ittee the.t Ptlerto Rico was no longer a Non-Self-Governing Territory andthat it intended to dease tranamitting inforrnatton on Puerto Rico under Article '73 (e) of the Charter. The Committee shbuld be gt:dded by the precedent of. the decision concerning the Netherlands Government's communication . . TheTe was another reason why the communication should be transmitted to the Generai Assembly without comment. In the case of Suri:b.a.m and the Netherlands Antilles, the General Assembly had instructed the .Ad Hoc Committe,e on Factors to examine the question and to report on it to the eighth seasion of the General Assembly. That committee had recently decided that it could not make recommendations to the General Assembly and had referred the question back to the . I Assembly. At its fo~thcoming session the Assembly would probably study the question of cessation of the transmission of information by Administering P~Ters and might also take advantage of the opportunity to define criteria by reference to which pending questions could be ,judged and future pol1cydetermined. He therefore thought that the Committee should not express any views on the subject before the eighth session of the General Assembly. Mr. TRUJILLO (Ecuador) took issue with the representatives of India and Pakis,tan. First, as the Ad Hoc Committee on Factors and the General Assembly ha expressly ,stated, the list of faotors could serve only as a guide and al~owance should be made for the particular circumstances of each case. S~condly, t.he pI'esent connnittee"s terms of reference derived from resolutions 222 (III) art-d 448 (V), in which the C~neral Assembly instructed it to-take a decisionj it could not shirk that task vTithout running tbe risk of losing its raison dtetre .. His delegation, like the Brazilian delegation, therefore held that the ConnnitteE1" I was competent and indeed under a duty to pass judgment on the caSe presented by the United states. A/AC.35/SR.82 E::lglish Page 8 ' The Committee's decision should,of course, be in coufo='!Jlityw-:Lt:. Cl":', '-:,-:} of the Charter. Tne authors of that chapter h3.cl wished to draw a dist1:lction betw~en Non-Self-Governing (or colon~al) Terr~toriea and Trust Territories: ' under Chapter XI the Administel':.ug Powers had the sacred trust ot' guiding the colonial territoriec towar1s ~elf.-covernnlent) as the United Kingdom had done in the case of India and the Ur.itcd states in.,the case of the Philippines. Consequently, Adminitte~ing P~f3rs could be baid to have fulfilled the trust whe they had discharged the obligation3 laid ~o~~ in Article 73 (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e). . , AnaJ~sing the manner in which the United States bad carried out its oblig~tions toWards Puerto Rico, Le said with resard to paragraph. (a),' that socii conditiona in the Island spoke for thems~lv(,'J; with regard 'to paragraph (b), that the documents aubmittcd and direct acquaintance with the country shmoTed too' it was able to command :respect as an independent state; with regard to , , paragraph (c), that PUerto Rico had .talccn an active, part in the Second Wo::-ld War and in the Korean War, many Puerto Ricans having fought with the United Nations troops; and with rege.l~d to pa.ragraph (d), that the University of Puerto Rico had admitted a number of students from Latin America, Africa and Asia. So far as paragraph (e) was concerned, even the Indian delegation had paid a tribute to the scrupUlously detailed information about the island : ' . . transmitted by the United States. After severa~ referenda and plebiscites tpe Puerto Rican'people had decided in favour of self-government; the , . islandts ties with the United G:ates were hardly more than economic. Puerto Rico and the,United States had entered,into a compact which was more binding than an international treaty because it could not be denounced uIlilat9rally. He concluded, from his analJ'sis that P1..~crto Rico had all the attributes of an independent people. , The C~mittoe should ad0~t a resolution referring to previous resolutions and -to the basic documentation in the present case, acc~Jting the cessation of the tran3missioh of information on Puerto Rico by tneUnited States, and affirming tha.t it.s decision was b , tacitly' in agreement with the views of the majority of the voters. Moreoever, it was scarcely'credible that all those who had not voted were members of, the Independence Party which,was a small group and had decided of its own accord not " , to take part in the vote. Public ,~w No. 600 had been approved by 76 per c,ent of .the vo~ers, who represented 65 per cent of the total electorate; in other wor~s, 49.76 per cent of the total electorate had declared their'approv~l of the Law. It was only necessary therefore tp regard a tiny percentage of the abstentions as virtually positive votes to reach t~e conclusion t~t the Law in queeti9n bad been approved by more than half the total electorate. ..~ AIAC.;5/lli~.•62 English Page 13 Mrll MATHIESON (United Kingdom) tllought that the tvo' different, points of view which had emerged might be reconciled. It should be possible to reach agreement, On one or several draft. r.e.so.lut.1QJ1s ~¢~p.t.a9l~ ,~Q.' ~e_.maJ.9l:.i t:Y:. of the Committee. Mr. SC~ (He'., Zeeland) also hoped for a compromise. 'He pointed to the parallel betveen the 'position of PuertQ Rieo6nd that of the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam ~hich had some time earlier echi~ved a 1egree of self-government sufficient to warrant the ~~thcrlan~s Gov~rnmant's ceasing to t~ansmft information under J1.rticle 73 (e) of the Cr'l'ter.' The 'Ney Zeavmd delegation ~d ,no. doubt that the decision of the United States Go'Yernment was vell founded.' He tQ.~refore submitted and ~ead out a draft resolution '1h1cb, after ~ec$ll1ng the. provisions of aener~l Assembly resolution 222 (III) and ,stressing the need for the United Nat'ions , to be infOrmed of ell constitutional changes tD8king it unnecesfary for governments to"transmit 1nfor~tion under Article 73 (e) of t~e Charter, took note, of the documents and communicat1ons submitted by the United States Go;:ternment to show that the Territory'of Puerto Rico had ec~ieved self-governmcnto ' . . _' __ He -ho~ed, that the Committee would adept that draft resolutiono He ~alled the part. already played by Puerto Rico in the, defence of peace' 6Q4,..,internertional security. By participating in the collective security action in Kor~e., the new " ,::Stat-e,_~1n fact earned .the gratitude or· ~-.internati,;)~~~~ conmunity. Vir. FRAZAO (BraZil) thought 1t undesirable :to vote at once on 'the draft resolution read out by tt.e New Ze6l~nd representative.. When the Committee had seen it in writing" a comr:-omise draft of the oper~tive part of the resolution might b.e arriv.ed at~ Be proposed ;that e:x'Cm1cation of, t~ draft resolution should be poB~,unti.l_the~.next .meeti:l3o The CHP.IRMAN invited the New zealand representative to submit to the Secretariat a ~ritten text. of ~i6 draft resolution'so that the Committee. might examine i't a"c its 8;rd meet1~. , \ -. '..'.: AIAC ..35/SR$82 Engli1:lh Page 14 EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONSnr NON-SELF*GOVERNING TERRITORIES: REPORTS SUBMITTED B! . THE SECRETARY-GENERAL AND 'fEE SPECIALIZj!:D AGJ!;NCIES (contintedh (r) USE OF ~....-c"""__ ,INDIGENOUS -IJ.I..N"~GES IN. .EDUCA'E1C~. (A/.AC..35)J....1.37) If.r (> Y•.l'.I1RY (Iraq) pointed out that 111 the independent Arabic. speaking countri~s effor~s mad~ to give instruction in 'Arabic had met with complete success. The fact that primary dnd seeon~ry inoU'uction was given entirely in Arab:l.c did not exclude the' study and pr·actice of other languages, E!uch as English or French, a knowledge o.f ~icb vas. necesGary for 6tudents wishing to go to the sources of Western thought. Furtnermore: the~ existed Arabic translations of important 'Westerrt' works, and in certain casee'h1g;wr epl.lcl!!ti'On-w.a~,given--in_._ Arabic" for instance at the medical 'school in Damascus. Thus experience bad prO"'led that the Arabic langu&£e cou14 be used as a ~hicle even for higher and '.. scientific education, and he was amaz,a tha~ the French Government bed not givep, Arabic the place to ":;'hich it ~1a~ ent1~1..ed in instruction in Morocco and Tunisia. He did' not regard as valid the argtunertt that France had had. to bear the 'burd~n of -v.1O ,wrld wara 1n the forti- y-aars that'Marooco-bQ.coo in TUnisia. In the la'cter territory, the teach5_ng of the Koran wa~ being gradua.lly supplemented by instruction in arithmetic, morala J draWing and sing~ng, ~iven in Arabic~ ~~;re were also mode~n Kdranic schools ~aving 32,000 pupils in T~isiaj t~ey offered 8. six-year course iu which Arabic occupied an important place. In Morocco, it was noyewo~~' that despite the fact ths~ the vernacular language ot a large. number of th~ population was Berbel", no p:'ovieion vas made for '~ha;v language in the M?slem :primary schoole .in. Berber-ape~Jt1ng a~